Gail Bassin, center cheers with other Hillary Clinton supporters, at the headquarters, when Hillary Clinton address the public, Tuesday Feb. 5, 2008, in San Francisco, Ca. (Lacy Atkins San Francisco Chronicle) Ran on: 02-06-2008
Gail Bassin (center) cheers with other Hillary Rodham Clinton supporters, at campaign headquarters in San Francisco. Early returns suggest Clinton has won California.
Ran on: 02-06-2008
Gail Bassin (center) cheers with other Hillary Rodham Clinton supporters at campaign headquarters in San Francisco. Clinton grabbed a much-needed victory in the California primary. less

Gail Bassin, center cheers with other Hillary Clinton supporters, at the headquarters, when Hillary Clinton address the public, Tuesday Feb. 5, 2008, in San Francisco, Ca. (Lacy Atkins San Francisco Chronicle) ... more

Photo: Lacy Atkins

Image 5 of 9

Campaign worker Greer Westerink had her picture taken with a life-size Obama cutout. A large crowd gathered at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco to celebrate Barack Obama's victories Tuesday night.
(By Brant Ward/San Francisco Chronicle)
Ran on: 02-06-2008
Gail Bassin (center) cheers with other Hillary Rodham Clinton supporters, at campaign headquarters in San Francisco. Early returns suggest Clinton has won California.
Ran on: 02-06-2008
Gail Bassin (center) cheers with other Hillary Rodham Clinton supporters at campaign headquarters in San Francisco. Clinton grabbed a much-needed victory in the California primary. less

Campaign worker Greer Westerink had her picture taken with a life-size Obama cutout. A large crowd gathered at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco to celebrate Barack Obama's victories Tuesday night.
(By Brant ... more

Photo: Brant Ward

Image 6 of 9

Brent Haas, floor and Donald Reading, back right with other Hillary Clinton supporters cheer at the headquarters, as she leads in Super Tuesdays Primary election, Tuesday Feb. 5, 2008, in San Francisco, Ca. (Lacy Atkins San Francisco Chronicle) less

Brent Haas, floor and Donald Reading, back right with other Hillary Clinton supporters cheer at the headquarters, as she leads in Super Tuesdays Primary election, Tuesday Feb. 5, 2008, in San Francisco, Ca. ... more

Photo: Lacy Atkins

Image 7 of 9

George Woods Baker cheers when Hillary took over California in the Super Tuesdays Primary election, Tuesday Feb. 5, 2008, in San Francisco, Ca. (Lacy Atkins San Francisco Chronicle)

George Woods Baker cheers when Hillary took over California in the Super Tuesdays Primary election, Tuesday Feb. 5, 2008, in San Francisco, Ca. (Lacy Atkins San Francisco Chronicle)

Photo: Lacy Atkins

Image 8 of 9

Members of the Jacob family celebrated the evening as a large crowd gathered at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco to celebrate Barack Obama's victories Tuesday night.
(By Brant Ward/San Francisco Chronicle)

Members of the Jacob family celebrated the evening as a large crowd gathered at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco to celebrate Barack Obama's victories Tuesday night.
(By Brant Ward/San Francisco Chronicle)

Photo: Brant Ward

Image 9 of 9

How Clinton won California

1 / 9

Back to Gallery

California has long been "Clinton country," but Hillary Rodham Clinton seized Super Tuesday's biggest prize by winning big among women, Latinos, Asian-Americans, gays and lesbians, older voters and working class Californians - which blunted Barack Obama's strong support from African Americans, white men and independents, according to exit polls.

While Obama was able to carry some of the state's progressive centers - including San Francisco, Alameda, Marin and Santa Cruz counties - Clinton dominated in voter-rich Los Angeles County as well as Santa Clara County, Orange County and San Diego County. The New York senator also vacuumed up support in inland areas like Fresno, Riverside and San Bernardino counties.

Clinton's nearly 10-point margin in the state (with 96 percent of precincts reporting) will add to her national lead in the battle for delegates - although proportional rules mean the two candidates will divide California's 370 delegates.

Although no official count was available early Wednesday, state Democratic party officials predict that Clinton will get 20 to 30 more delegates when all results are in. Because of the relatively close finish, they are likely to split delegates in most of the congressional districts with an even number of delegates, while Clinton will pick up an extra delegate in districts that offer an odd number.

Clinton's intense vote-by-mail campaign appeared to pay dividends, giving her a lead in early returns that held up despite polls showing Obama with a late surge heading into Tuesday's vote. She had a narrow edge, 49 percent to 46 percent, with those who made up their minds in the last three days, but held a 17-point advantage among voters who had decided earlier.

As in her other primary victories, Clinton benefited from an enormous gender gap. While they ran just about even among men - with Obama holding an 18-point edge among white men - exit polls showed Clinton with a huge 59 percent to 34 percent advantage with women.

"Women are always an important voting block, but even more so in the Democratic primary," said Ramona Oliver, a spokeswoman for Emily's List, a group that supports pro-choice women candidates that endorsed Clinton early. "Everywhere she has had victories so far, they have been built on significant support from women."

Obama proved once again his popularity among African-Americans, taking almost 4 out of 5 black votes in California. But Clinton more than compensated by winning among Latinos by a 2-to-1 margin and among Asian-Americans by a 3-to-1 margin.

"Asians were a surprise," said Bruce Cain, director of the University of California's Washington Center. "It's the first (presidential) election we have seen where Asian voters were a big factor. They are about 8 percent of the Democratic electorate.... The two major immigrant groups voted for Clinton as opposed to the candidate who has the immigrant background."

Clinton won with all age groups in California, but racked up her biggest margins among voters age 60 or older, winning 53 percent to 30 percent. She even won narrowly with voters ages 18-24 - 52 to 46 percent - a setback for the Obama campaign, which had counted on turning out young voters in droves.

Clinton also won among union voters, 54 to 37 percent, despite a last minute effort by some of former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards' labor supporters to swing the vote to Obama. But Clinton had her own endorsements from important unions such as American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) and the American Federation of Teachers, and she was popular with the rank-and-file.

Obama benefited from a wave of independents who turned out for him, but it was not the tsunami he needed. He held a 23-point advantage with "decline to state" voters, but it could not overcome her 21-point edge with Democrats, according to exit polls.

The vote in California also split along class lines. Voters from families making less than $100,000 tilted heavily toward Clinton - 54 percent to 37 percent - while Obama held a narrow edge with those making more than $100,000, 49 percent to 47 percent.

Clinton won overwhelmingly with voters who did not complete high school (82 percent to 15 percent) and had a 2-to-1 edge among those who had graduated from high school. She also won among college graduates, although Obama narrowly outpolled her among those who had pursued post-graduate work, 48 percent to 46 percent.

Gays and lesbians also broke sharply for Clinton, backing her 60 percent to 25 percent.

Clinton - who established a reputation in California during her husband's 1992 campaign and eight years of his presidency - showed strength throughout the state. She dominated in Southern California and racked up big totals in the Central Valley and Inland Empire. The more liberal Bay Area was expected to be friendlier terrain for Obama, but she won in Napa, Contra Costa, San Mateo and Solano counties.

Obama, however, also had strong pockets of support in some coastal and rural areas: He won in Sacramento, Sonoma, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Humboldt, Mendocino, Mono, Siskiyou, Plumas, Sierra, Yolo, Nevada and Alpine counties.

Latest from the SFGATE homepage:

Click below for the top news from around the Bay Area and beyond. Sign up for our newsletters to be the first to learn about breaking news and more. Go to 'Sign In' and 'Manage Profile' at the top of the page.